Apple is preparing to bring one-touch online shopping to the mobile Web later this year, enabling consumers with Safari browsers running on the consumer electronic group's phones and tablets to use Apple Pay and TouchID to make a purchase.
Apple has already introduced the one-touch feature to in-app purchases for iOS mobile apps, but the integration with Safari would extend the experience to conventional online shopping sites.
Apple is targeting a major pain point for e-commerce merchants and consumers alike, eliminating the need for multiple form-filling and cumbersome security procedures when shopping online. While mobile shopping is booming, it can be a frustrating experience, resulting in high rates of shopping cart abandonment.
Apple will be competing directly with PayPal, whose One Touch payment system has experienced rapid adoption since it was first introduced ten months ago. The company says 18 million consumers have now opted-in globally, and that more than 50 percent of the Internet Retailer 500 in the US and more than a million merchants around the world have enabled the service.
PayPal One Touch may be the most obvious success story, but cracking the one-click shopping experience is also a major target for the card schemes and other Internet giants like Google and Amazon.
Citing 'multiple sources', Re/code say that Apple is telling potential partners that the Apple Pay expansion to mobile websites will be ready before this year’s holiday shopping season. Apple has also considered making the service available on Apple laptops and desktops, too, says Re/code, though it’s not clear if the company will launch that capability.
PayPal's shares slumped by 8.7% on the news, before recovering some equilibrium to stand 4.7% down by mid-morning.